Photographic Processes.

Albumen On Glass Process –  

Niepce de Saint Victor

A negative and positive process on glass.

Introduced by Claude Felix Abel Niepce de Saint Victor in June 1848.

Glass was coated with albumen, from the white of an egg, and potassium iodide. It was the sensitized with an acid solution of silver nitrate. Following exposure the latent image was developed with gallic acid.

The results gave fine definition but was not suitable for portraits due to the long exposure time required.

Albumen Glass Negative

Albumen Print Process –  

Blanquart-Evrard

The main type of paper print in use during the second half of the 19th century.

Introduced by Louis Désiré Blanquart Evrard in May 1850.

From about 1860 the paper could be bought in a semi-prepared state, ready coated with albumen and salt. This was then sensitized before use with a solution of silver nitrate.

The resultant print was usually sepia toned, with chloride of gold, to avoid quick fading and to disguise the yellow colour of the raw print.

Albumen print circa 1900

Ambrotype Process –  

Frederick Scott Archer

A wet collodion positive on glass. Developed by Frederick Scott Archer and P.W. Fry circa 1851.

A popular method of small portrait, and subject, photography during the 1850’s and 1860’s.

A glass negative image was bleached with nitric acid or bichloride of mercury and then laid against a black background to give a positive picture.

Each one was unique. Ambrotypes do not have the mirror appearance of Daguerreotypes nor the slightly flat look of Ferrotypes.

Ambrotype – African American soldier with wife and daughters

Autotype Process  –  

The term autotype was coined in the late 19th century and referred to a process for making photographic prints using the double transfer of the carbon print process. Many autotype prints were produced and the process was popular well into the 20th century, particularly since autotype prints are very long lasting (it is said that an autotype could last up to 500 years without fading).

Carbon print on Autotype paper.

Bromoil Print Process  –  

E.J. Wall

A controlled printing process in extension of the Oil Print Process, with the advantage of being suitable for enlargement as well as contact prints.

Introduced by E.J. Wall and C. Welborne Piper in 1907. A finished print on gelatin-bromide paper was treated with a solution, chemically bleached and hardened.

The gelatin which originally had the darkest tones, is hardened the most, the highlights remain absorbent to water. This print was then inked like the oil print.

Bromoil by Josef Jindřich Šechtl, 1920s

Calotype or Talbotype Process  –  

William Henry Fox Talbot

The first practicable negative and positive process on paper (from “Kalos” the Greek for beautiful).

Patented by William Henry Fox Talbot on the 8th of February 1841 in England, later the same year in France, and in 1847 in America. Writing paper was treated with solutions of silver nitrate and potassium iodide and the dried. Just before use this was further sensitized with gallo nitrate of silver. After exposure, generally 2 to 3 minutes, the latent image was developed with a second solution of gallo of silver, washed and finally fixed with sodium thiosulphate (hypo). Contact prints were then made on similarly sensitized paper under ordinary daylight. Calotype prints can be distinguished by their softness and completely matte surface.

Fox Talbot’s Calotype Process

Carbon Print Process –  

Alphonse Louis Poitevin

A positive printing process which gave near permanency to the finished print.

Introduced by Alphonse Louis Poitevin in 1855 and perfected by Sir Joseph William Swann in 1864.

Paper was coated with bichromated gelatin, which hardened when exposed to light, containing powdered carbon or similar pigment. During printing the exposed areas of gelatin hardened and when the print was developed and washed in water the unhardened areas of gelatin with carbon were removed to leave a positive carbon image of insoluble gelatin. This was then transferred by a floating technique to a further sheet of paper and rinsed in an alum solution, to finally harden the gelatin. Where the image had undergone one transfer only the print was laterally reversed and this then required a further transfer, with an intermediary support, to right the wrong, the Double Transfer System or Autotype Process.

1932 Carbon process colour print – Nickolas Muray

Collotype Process –  

An early photomechanical printing process introduced by Alphonse Louis Poitevin in 1855. A glass plate coated with bichromated gelatin was gently heated and, in drying, the gelatin formed a fine reticulation grain. Following exposure under a negative and second plate, the bichromate was washed off and the image treated with glycerine, making the less hardened areas of the surface absorbent so that the plate would accept or repel printing ink in degrees proportionate to the hardening of the gelatin. Large numbers of prints could be then printed from this plate.

Collotype Postcard

Cyanotype or Blueprint Process –  

Sir John Herschel

A printing process on paper invented by Sir John Herschel  in 1842.

Paper was sensitized with ferric salt and exposed under the negative causing the reduction of the ferric salt to ferrons and producing Turnbull’s Blue, this is insoluble in water and the image was fixed by washing away those areas unaffected by light.

Used for copying architectural and mechanical drawings well into the 20th century.

Cyanotype

Daguerreotype Process –

Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre

The first practicable photographic process. Given “Free to the World” by the French Government on the 19th of August 1839 (although a patent had been taken to cover England only five days before) and in wide use until the 1850’s.

Invented by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre following his experiments in partnership with Nicephore and Isidore Niepce.

A polished silvered copper plate was sensitized with iodine and/or bromine vapour. After exposure in the camera the positive latent image was developed with mercury vapour and fixed with sodium thiosulphate. It was then sealed behind glass and framed. 

The image was a direct positive with no negative which meant that each daguerreotype  was a unique, finely detailed image. The original process requiring an exposure of 15 to 20 minutes was speeded up by several more experimenters – 1n 1840 by J. F. Goddard for Richard Beard, in 1841 by Antoine Claudet and then by Josef Petzval. 

Boulevard du Temple by Daguerre 1838

Dry Plate or Gelatin Emulsion Process –

Dr. Richard Leach Maddox

A negative photographic process in the sensitizing chemicals were coated on the glass plate in a gelatin emulsion instead of Wet Collodion. Following experiments, by Dr. Richard Leach Maddox, in 1871 the first gelatin silver bromide plate was developed by Charles Bennett, John Burges and Richard Kennett. In 1873 Burgess made the first gelatin dry plate for sale on the open market. Whereas wet collodion plates had to be used immediately after sensitization, the dry plates could be stored for long periods of time before use. Prints were generally made on albumen paper until the 1890’s when gelatin silver chloride or bromide paper became available. By the early 1880’s the dry plate had overtaken the wet plate completely and by the late 1880’s gelatin emulsions could be coated on celluloid roll film.

A varnished gelatin dry plate negative

Ferrotype or Tintype Process –

A small direct positive on a black or dark brown enamelled metal plate. Introduced by A. A. Martin in 1853. A thin  metal plate was coated with sensitized emulsion. After exposure at as high a speed as possible, the plate was dropped straight into a developer,then was fixed, framed and sold often whilst still drying. Being a direct positive the image was laterally reversed and unique.

A tintype photographic portrait of two girls posing in San Francisco.

Gum Print or Gum Bichromate Process  –  

A controlled printing process in which the image was formed by hardened gum containing coloured pigments. Introduced about 1895, although developed in the late 1850’s. Potassium bichromate with Gum Arabic, which hardens when exposed to light, containing the chosen colour pigment were coated on paper. When dry this was then exposed underneath the negative and then immersed in water to wash off the areas of gum and pigment not affected by light, leaving a finished image formed by pigment in the hardened gum. The different colours available and manipulation possible gave great scope to photographers.

Gertrude Käsebier – The Bride – Gum Print

Heliograph Process  –  

Joseph Nicephore Niepce

The process devised by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in taking the first ever photographs during the 1820’s.

A glass or polished metal ( pewter, zinc or copper) plate was coated with bitumen of judea, which hardens on exposure to light, and oil of lavender.

After a very long exposure, of up to 8 hours, the unhardened areas of bitumen were washed off by a solvent of oil of lavender and petroleum to leave a positive image formed by varying degrees of hardened bitumen on the exposed plate.

View from the Window at Le Gras – Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

Oil Print  Process  –

A controlled printing process whereby oil pigment was brushed onto a gelatin relief image. Oil pigment printing, sometimes referred to as the Rawlins oil process, is the predecessor of bromoil.  Originally conceived and practiced by Alphonse Louis Poitevin in the mid-1850’s, using a roller to spread the ink, G.E.H. Rawlins introduced the use of a brush for selective application of ink in 1904.

Oil pigment photograph by Robert Demachy.

Oxymel or Syruped Collodion Process  –

Dillwyn Llewelyn

 

A negative photographic process in extension of the Wet Collodion Process.

Introduced by John Dillwyn Llewelyn in 1865.

Wet Collodion Plates were treated with a solution, a syrup, of vinegar and honey, enabling them to be kept for longer periods before and during use.

Oxymel process – Swansea from St. Thomas.

Ozobrome Process  –

Thomas Manly

A controlled printing process in which an ordinary silver bromide print was changed into a carbon print.

Introduced in 1905 by Thomas Manly.

Carbon tissue was treated with a solution which sensitized it and impregnated it with potassium ferricyanide and potassium bromide. This was then pressed into contact with a silver bromide print for about 30 minutes so that the pigmented gelatin hardened wherever it made contact with the silver image of the original print.

The carbon tissue was then separated and developed in the normal way. 

Ozobrome Print

Ozotype Process  –

A controlled printing process in extension of the carbon print process, with the advantage that there was no transfer of the image and therefore no lateral reversion. Introduced by Thomas Manly in 1899. Paper was coated with bichromated gelatin containing manganese salts and exposed under the negative to give a faint image. This was then pressed into contact with a sheet of tissue which had been coated with the chosen colour pigment and immersed in an acidic solution. The acid acted on the original image so that it slowly penetrated and hardened the overlaying area of pigmented gelatin. The tissue was then removed and developed in the same way as for a carbon print.

Edward S. Curtis – Chief at Water’s Edge – Ozotype Print

Photogenic Drawing Process  –

William Henry Fox Talbot

The earliest negative and positive photographic process on paper.

Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot around 1835  and published in January 1839 when talbot heard about Daguerre’s progress. Writing paper was sensitized with silver chloride and silver nitrate and exposed in a camera with very long exposure times. The resultant negative image was fixed with a common salt solution. Printing being achieved by contact with similarly sensitized paper. In September 1840 Talbot discovered the existence of a latent image, present after only a short exposure, that could be developed with gallo nitrate of silver. The improved method became the Calotype Process.

Talbot -Photogenic Drawing of a Plant.

Photogravure Process –

Karel Klic

A photo-mechanical printing process in which the image was recorded from a photo-engraved, photo-etched, metal plate. Developed by Karel Klic around 1879. Later around 1895 it was improved and became the Rotogravure Process in which engraved cylinders replaced the metal plates. A polished copper plate was coated with dust of resin or bitumen, which adhered with mild heating, to form a grain. A carbon print was made from a diapositive (transparency) giving a negative image which was then transferred to the grained copper plate. This plate was then washed in warm water, to remove the soluble parts of the carbon image, and the plate etched, usually, with a solution of ferric chloride. After cleaning off the gelatin, which had formed the body of the carbon print, the plate was seen to be etched in varying depths proportionate to the original picture; the shadows being the deepest and so holding the most ink when printing began.

Photogravure – Gertrude Käsebier 1899.

Platinotype Process –

William Willis

A high quality printing process in which platinum was used in place of silver salts, with the advantage of permanence and the finest of tones.

Presented by William Willis in 1873.

Paper coated with platinum chloride and ferric oxalate was exposed under the negative  and then developed by washing with potassium oxalate, leaving a pure platinum image.

Coming Home from the Marshes, platinum print, Peter Henry Emerson.

Silver Bromide Print Process – 

The most widely used modern type of paper print. Introduced about 1880. Paper was coated and sensitized with a gelatin emulsion containing silver bromide and a small amount of silver iodide.

Silver Bromide Paper Print

Tannin Process – 

A negative photographic process in extension of the Wet Plate. Introduced by Charles Russell in 1861. Wet collodion plates were treated with tannins as a preserver, enabling them to kept for long periods of time after sensitization and allowed longer exposures particularly for interior photography work.

Waxed Paper Process –

Gustave Le Gray

A variant of the Calotype Process introduced by Gustave Le Gray in 1851.

The negatives were made on paper permeated with wax to give greater transparency and greater definition in the final print.

In addition, the waxed paper could be kept for some 10 to 14 days before use – against one day for ordinary calotype paper.

Le Gray –  Portail milieu d’Aubeterre – 1851- print from waxed paper negative.

Wet Collodion or Wet Plate Process –

Frederick Scott Archer

A negative photographic process in which collodion held the sensitized chemicals on a glass plate.

Invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. Collodion, a viscous transparent substance, with potassium iodide was poured over a glass plate. This was immediately sensitized with silver nitrate and exposed in the camera while still wet, as the chemicals deteriorated if the collodion was allowed to dry. The latent negative image was developed. also immediately, with pyrogallic acid or ferrous sulphate and then fixed using sodium thiosulphate. The glass negative could be used to make prints on albumen paper or by treatment transformed into a positive image (Ambrotypes).

Free of any patent, the glass plate heralded the general expansion of photography. In addition it was the fastest process of its time, with exposures of ten seconds, but there was one major disadvantage  – the need to sensitize, expose and develop the plates all within an extremely short period of time.

Collodion Wet Plate

Woodburytype Process –

An early mass printing process in which photographic prints could be continuously reproduced. Introduced by Walter Bentley Woodbury in 1864. A relief image in gelatin was made, following printing from the negative, in a manner similar to the Oil Print Process. This was then pressed onto a lead plate to transfer and transform the image into an intaglio. Prints were finally pulled from the lead plate in the way of ordinary printing. Mainly used in book illustration, during the second half of the 19th century, they are identifiable by their lack of grain or dot formation and a slightly purple colour.

Etienne Carjat – Baudelaire – Woodburytype – 1862.